I’d had no concrete information about Spiderman when I
bought it. My principle reason for buying it was that if it was a popular
enough game for Sainsburys to be selling it, it must at least be passable! So I
saved up some Nectar points and bought the game.
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| I mean who wouldn't want to do this? |
And I’m happy to say this is one of the best games I’ve
played in a long time. It’s an open-world action adventure, where you play as
Spiderman trying to deal with the enemies that threaten New York. While it
doesn’t follow the plot of any of the recent films, it recognises that most
people know enough about Spider Man to know his origins and who the principle
characters are. We join Peter Parker well in to his 20s; he’s been Spiderman
for roughly eight years and works for Doctor Octavius as a research scientist.
He and Mary Jane have broken up, and he is often found to be helping Aunt May
do charity work. The same is the case with the villains; the game picks a few
of them and tells its own story, including giving a lot of limelight to one
relatively-recent supervillain, which I’m not going to spoil but it’s nice to
see a change in the principle villains from time to time.
The two crucial elements of any game are an engaging process
and a satisfying payoff, and Spiderman has plenty of both. There are many open
world games on the market, but Spiderman shines in three main areas: Firstly,
the in-game activities are mostly contextually accurate and a tonne of fun to
play out. The campaign drives the game, but there is plenty to do on the side;
beating up gangs of thugs, eliminating ‘bases’ of criminals, doing some
research tasks for Octavius or Harry Osborne, they are all things that it would
make sense for Spiderman or Peter Parker to be doing and don’t feel like
pointless busy work. The second is that you’re Spiderman, and therefore getting
around the city is an absolute joy; swinging, stunts and developing abilities
all contribute to even the most mundane experience in the game. Finally, the
game is neither too big nor too long, and is paced well enough that the range
of tasks never feels like it’s getting on top of you.
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| An odd stance... |
Spiderman handles very well, with a decent control system
that pays more than a little respect to the Arkham games but adapts very well
here. There’s plenty of things you can do with your webs when fighting enemies,
for example, but none of them amount to much more than pressing the Triangle
button in the right place. You have a nice selection of gadgets to use, your
spider sense tells you when to dodge, and your basic attacks work as your
principle means of damaging enemies. Then there are stealth sections, some of
which need to be handled without anybody seeing you, and others are optional. The
latter is great, as you can be stealthy if you wish (and wrapping enemies up in
a web is a very satisfying move,) but Spiderman is good enough in combat that
you never feel like you’ve ruined it by making a mistake with your sneaking.
The game is very well presented. The graphics are great,
particularly in the cut scenes, and while the sound won’t surprise anybody it
is thematic enough and does the job. The format of the video game gives the
plot enough space to develop some of the characters beyond what a film would
allow, and enhances the experience as a result. We all know Otto Octavius will
eventually become Dr Octopus, for example, but having Peter Parker working
closely with him in the first section of the game shows a gradual descent into
an egomaniacal madman born out of desperation and betrayal, rather than the
result of a tragic accident that usually ends up with the afflicted party
becoming a Supervillain. The plot is genuinely sad in places, amusing in
others, and the ending fits the tone of what the Marvel Universe has become in
the last two decades.
All in all, a fantastic game that I have no difficulty in
recommending to anybody.
Final Score: 5/5.
Beyond excellent.
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